The Daily Beast

Texas Republican: Planned Parenthood Does Nothing for Women’s Health

Planned Parenthood clinics are closing throughout Texas because they don’t have “anything” to do with women’s health, says Dan Patrick, a Republican running for lieutenant governor. During a runoff debate with current Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, Patrick explained that, as a state senator, he worked to cut funding to the country’s largest nonprofit provider of reproductive health care, cancer screenings, and other gynecological services because it is “a myth that Planned Parenthood has anything to do with women’s health. Why are they closing clinics if they’re making money on providing women’s health?” He asked. “They’re closing clinics because they make all their money taking the lives of babies.” In a statement, the Texas Democratic Party’s deputy communications director responded, “Texas women are appalled by Dan Patrick’s deplorable statements,” and noted that “158,345 Texans received preventative health care at Planned Parenthood in 2013.”

TN Senator: Obamacare Signups Are Like Nazi Train Rides

Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield has a Blogspot page called Camp4u where he posts his thoughts of the day. On Monday morning, The Sen., as he refers to himself on the blog, posted this gem: “Democrats bragging about the number of mandatory sign ups for Obamacare is like the Germans bragging about the number of manditory sign ups for ‘train rides’ for Jews in the 40s.” Comments like these are kind of Campfield’s thing; he has compared homosexuality to bestiality and made a tone-deaf joke about Democrats and pressure cookers shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings, for example. Tennessee Republican Party chairman Chris Devaney acknowledged Campfield’s reputation when denouncing his latest comment: “No political or policy disagreement should ever be compared to the suffering endured by an entire generation of people,” Devaney told reporters. “Those comments have no place in our public discourse. He should offer an apology to members of the Jewish faith immediately.”

Krauthammer: Climate Change Is ’The Oldest Superstition Around’

The White House released a new report this week warning that climate change is very real and is very much happening. Naturally, not everyone is convinced. Ninety-seven to 98 percent of scientists may believe human activity is having a direct impact on climate change, but conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer, for his part, “is not impressed by numbers.” He explained on Fox News this week that global warming is “the oldest superstition around. It was in the Old Testament, it’s in the rain dance of the Native Americans—if you sin, the skies will not cooperate.”

CA Gubernatorial Hopeful: My Opponent Plotted to Bring Sharia to U.S.

Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly’s mudslinging campaign for California governor is drawing the ire of civil rights groups and local GOP leaders. On his Facebook page on Monday, Donnelly accused his primary opponent, Neel Kashkari, a former investment banker, of helping conspire to bring Sharia law to the United States—because when Kashkari was interim assistant treasury secretary for financial stability in 2008, he participated in a Treasury conference about Islamic finances. Kashkari called Donnelly’s post “absurd,” while California state GOP Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon called the allegations “troubling and irresponsible.” On Wednesday, the Alameda County Republican Party accused Donnelly and his supporters of using “bigotry, racism and outright ignorance to try to win the primary.” Donnelly later apologized.

Bachmann Opposes Women’s History Museum

Rep. Michele Bachmann clarified that she is “pro-women” before encouraging fellow members of the House to vote “no” on funding the construction of a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C. Although Bachmann is honored in the museum’s online exhibit “Profiles in Motherhood” for her adoption of 23 foster children, she said she is concerned that the website shows “overwhelming bias” toward women who embrace “liberal ideology, radical feminism.” The legislation to fund the museum “lacks the necessary safeguards to ensure the proposed museum will not become an ideological shrine to abortion that will eventually receive federal funding and a prominent spot on the National Mall,” Bachmann said on the House floor. “A no vote on the current legislation, which I advocate for, very simply, is a vote to stand up for the pro-life movement, a vote to stand up for traditional marriage, and a vote to stand up for the traditional family.”